Hundreds of protesters attended the "Removing Cornwallis" protest on Saturday in downtown Halifax, with event organizers describing it on Facebook as the peaceful removal of a statue that represents genocide.

Cornwallis was a British military commander who founded Halifax in 1749. That same year he issued a Scalping Proclamation, which offered colonists a bounty for the scalps of Mi'kmaw people.

Halifax, like the rest of Nova Scotia, is on the unceded land of the Mi'kmaq.

According to APTN, Halifax Mayor Mike Savage decided to cover the statue as a temporary measure after speaking with protest organizers. He said his main concern was safety and "allowing people to make their positions known without anybody getting hurt."

The Halifax city council voted earlier this year to set up an expert panel, including Mi'kmaq representatives, to decide the future of Cornwallis Park, where the statue is located. Savage has said he's open to the removal of the statue and a renaming of the park, as well as other outcomes that could reflect the overlapping histories of Indigenous people and settlers.

Organizers of the weekend protest issued a declaration that called for the city to immediately remove the Cornwallis statue, and to do more to "facilitate reconciliation and peace amongst all peoples."

The city has already removed the black cloth on the statue, but protesters have been putting up their own tarps to keep it hidden from view.

This orange tarp was also reportedly removed. It's unclear if the city will tolerate further attempts to cover the statue. The mayor's office did not immediately respond to questions from BuzzFeed Canada.

The Cornwallis statue was the site of a confrontation on Canada Day between Indigenous people and members of the Proud Boys, a right-wing men's group that champions "Western chauvinism."